Teens swap Saturday jobs for gig economy

THE days of a Saturday job could be over as a survey shows teenagers are half as likely to have a weekend job as their parents’ generation did.

Research found that 45 per cent of teenagers surveyed were turning to short-term informal “gigs” for money.

The top gigs included dog-walking, cleaning and babysitting. By comparison, their parents had been most likely to work in a shop, stack shelves or have a newspaper round during their own teenage years. More than a third of those earning from odd jobs believed this was the most lucrative way of working, with the average teenager making £2,340 per year.

According to financial services provider Onefamily, 23 per cent of teenagers had an “official” job, compared with 43 per cent of their parents at the same period of their lives.

Of teenagers earning money, 66 per cent were doing so from odd jobs or work with no set hours. A quarter of teenagers in full-time education said that weekend roles no longer existed and jobs such as tutoring, programming and teaching computer skills were becoming more common. Technology is helping to fuel the gig economy boom.

Steve Ferrari, managing director of children’s savings at Onefamily, said: “This way of working provides teenagers with the opportunity to try out different careers.”